Waiting for the Boston Bomb Suspects’ Sister

Members of the media and local police wait outside the New Jersey apartment of Ailina Tsarnaev, a sister of the suspects in the Boston bombing.

UPDATE: Ailina and Bella Tsarnaev issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon, shortly after this post was published. Read more here.

WEST NEW YORK, N.J. – On Ailina Tsarnaev’s quiet street in this town just miles outside of Manhattan, a stand with a half-dozen microphones was at the ready Tuesday in case she wanted to speak. Reporters from across the region waited with colleagues from Inside Edition and Russia’s Novosti news agency.

Ms. Tsarnaev, a sister of Boston bombing suspects Dzhokar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, hasn’t been seen in or around her home since her identity reached the news media on Friday. But the reporters, photographers and television camera crews remained.

On Monday, a man identifying himself as her lawyer, Joseph Ginarte, advised the media stakeout to expect a statement from Ms. Tsarnaev on Tuesday. As the hours passed without word, rumors circulated that a statement would come via email. (Read more about their first public remarks since the bombing.)

The three-story apartment building has been under guard by West New York police, with officers taking shifts outside and entering occasionally to offer assistance. On Sunday, Mayor Felix Roque passed by and told reporters Ms. Tsarnaev was “in constant touch” with his secretary and considering speaking to the press. “They did express the feeling they wanted to set the record straight,” he said.

Mr. Roque recounted his own visit to Ms. Tsarnaev’s apartment Friday night, shortly after the arrest of her brother Dzhokar following a daylong manhunt that shut down the Boston area. He said Ms. Tsarnaev and her sister, 24-year-old Bella, were inside with a young man and baby.

The sisters, he recalled, were “intensely crying.” The older brother, Tamerlan, had been killed after a shootout with police the night before.

“It looked like I was in the middle of a wake in a funeral home,” Mr. Roque said. “White towels, they were just pressing against their face. Their eyes were almost shut closed from all the edema in her eyelids, from the crying, both of them.”

The sisters shared an apartment until January in nearby Fairview, N.J., according to landlord Alex Malyava. He said they moved out when they decided to live separately and described them as ”nice girls.” They spoke Russian like him, but Mr. Malyava said he didn’t talk to them much.

By Tuesday, as reporters lingered on their block, neighbors expressed mix feelings about the long-running media vigil and the proximity to a member of the family swept up by events in Boston.

“I was worried at first because I thought the dude was going to come here and visit his sister,” said Max Hall, 18, a neighbor. But after local police and federal agents went to the home, he said he no longer felt concerned.

Another West New York resident, an 18-year-old who gave her name as Stephanie, complained that the media presence was unnecessary. “It’s not her fault that she has a brother who does stuff like that,” she said. “It’s kind of mean to intrude into other people’s lives who have nothing to do with it.”

Yancel Rodriguez, 31, who lives down the street, said he would be interested to hear what Ms. Tsarnaev had to say . “A lot of people want to know,” he said.

Mr. Rodriguez claimed to have watched from his window Monday as Ms. Tsarnaev left the apartment in the afternoon and returned not long after, unbeknownst to the media. “I think they don’t know” what she looks like, he said.